Fan Device and Electronic Device Thereof

ABSTRACT

A fan device and an electronic device thereof are disclosed. The fan device is disposed in a casing of the electronic device and adjacent to a board of the casing, wherein the board has a first state and a second state. The fan device includes a plurality of fan blades, a shaft, and a ball. The shaft is connected to the plurality of fan blades and allows the plurality of fan blades rotating with the shaft, wherein at least one end of the shaft has a ball accommodating portion and an opening. The ball is disposed in the ball accommodating portion and limited by the opening for not separate from the ball accommodating portion. When the board is in the first state, a gap is between the ball and the casing. When the board is in the second state, the board and the ball touch each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The exemplary embodiment(s) of the present invention relates to a fandevice and an electronic device thereof. More specifically, theexemplary embodiment(s) of the present invention relates to a fan deviceand an electronic device thereof having a ball to lower the externalforce disturbing.

2. Description of the Related Art

With the improvement of the technology, the application of laptops isbecoming wider and wider, and Ultrabooks have been developed nowadays.In order to make the Ultrabooks work normally, it is important to keepthe structure strength of the laptop. In the structure pressure test,the place where the fan device is disposed inside the laptop would bethe place that most easily being affected. Because the volume of thelaptop is quite small, the casing of the laptop would be weak, and theinternal space of the laptop is quite small, thus the casing of thelaptop would easily disturb the operation of the fan device when beingapplied force. In order to solve this problem, the prior art usuallyincrease the strength of the casing component. The ways of increasingthe strength of the casing component include changing the material ofthe casing or adding some supporting members in the casing. However,these ways would increase the weight of the laptop, which disobey theobject of designing a light and thin laptop, and the design cost wouldbe increase.

Therefore, it has to invent a fan device and an electronic devicethereof to solve the disadvantage in the prior arts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main object of the present invention is to provide a fan device andan electronic device thereof having a ball to lower the external forcedisturbing

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicdevice having the aforementioned fan device.

In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the fan device of thepresent invention is disposed in a casing of an electronic device andadjacent to a board of the casing, wherein the board has a first stateindicating not being applied force and a second state indicating beingapplied forced. The fan device comprises a plurality of fan blades, ashaft, and a ball. The shaft is connected to the plurality of fan bladesand allows the plurality of fan blades rotating with the shaft, whereinat least one end of the shaft has a ball accommodating portion and anopening communicating with the ball accommodating portion. The ball isdisposed in the ball accommodating portion and limited by the openingfor not separating from the ball accommodating portion. When the boardis in the first state, a gap is between the ball and the casing. Whenthe board is in the second state, the board and the ball touch eachother.

The fan device of the present invention comprises a casing, a pluralityof fan blades, a shaft, and a ball. The casing has a board, and theboard has a first state indicates not being applied force and a secondstate indicates being applied forced. The shaft is connected to theplurality of fan blades and allows the plurality of fan blades rotatingwith the shaft, wherein at least one end of the shaft has a ballaccommodating portion and an opening communicating with the ballaccommodating portion. The ball is disposed in the ball accommodatingportion and limited by the opening for not separating from the ballaccommodating portion. When the board is in the first state, a gap isbetween the ball and the casing. When the board is in the second state,the board and the ball touch each other.

The electronic device of the present invention comprises a casing and afan device. The casing has a board, and the board has a first stateindicates not being applied force and a second state indicates beingapplied forced. The fan device is disposed in the casing and adjacent tothe board of the casing. The fan device includes a plurality of fanblades, a shaft, and a ball. The shaft is connected to the plurality offan blades and allows the plurality of fan blades rotating with theshaft, wherein at least one end of the shaft has a ball accommodatingportion and an opening communicating with the ball accommodatingportion. The ball is disposed in the ball accommodating portion andlimited by the opening for not separate from the ball accommodatingportion. When the board is in the first state, a gap is between the balland the casing. When the board is in the second state, the board and theball touch each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The exemplary embodiment(s) of the present invention will be understoodmore fully from the detailed description given below and from theaccompanying drawings of various embodiments of the invention, which,however, should not be taken to limit the invention to the specificembodiments, but are for explanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1 is an external view schematic diagram of the fan device of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is an assembling schematic diagram of the fan device of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a cutaway view diagram when the fan device is installed in theelectronic device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is cutaway view diagram when the fan device installed in theelectronic device is pressed of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

To clarify the above and other purposes, features and advantages of thisinvention, a specific embodiment of this invention is described indetail with the attached figures as follows.

Please first refer to FIG. 1, which is an external view schematicdiagram of the fan device of the present invention.

The fan device 10 of the present invention could be used in theelectronic device 1 (as shown in FIG. 3), so as to dissipating the heatof the hot device inside the electronic device 1 by providing an airflow. The fan device 10 could be a centrifugal fan, but the presentinvention is not limited within this fan type. The fan device 10includes a plurality of fan blades 11, a shaft 12, and a ball 13. Theplurality of fan blades 11 is fixed on and connected with the shaft 12by insert molding. Thus when the shaft 12 rotates; the plurality of fanblades 11 are driven to rotate to generate the air flow at the sametime. Because the working theory of the fan device 10 is widely applied,and it is not the point of improvement in the present invention, thus itwould not be described in detail here.

The ball 13 is disposed on the top of the shaft 12, and about therelationship between the shaft 12 and the ball, please refer to FIG. 2,which is an assembling schematic diagram of the fan device of thepresent invention.

One end of the shaft 12 has a ball accommodating portion 121 and anopening 122 communicating with the ball accommodating portion 121. Thesize of the ball accommodating portion 121 matches with the volume ofthe ball for accommodating the ball 13. The diameter of the opening 122is smaller than the diameter of the ball 13, thus the ball 13 would belimited by the opening 122 and would not fall out from the opening 122.It has to be noted that the shaft 12 could have two ends, the ballaccommodating portion 121 is only disposed on one of the two ends (forexample, on the top end in each figures of the present invention), andthe other end is kept as cylindrical shape. That means, the ball 13 isonly located at one end of the shaft 12, and there is no need to disposethe ball 13 on the two ends of the shaft 12 at the same time. However,in another embodiment, two ends of the shaft 12 could have the ballaccommodating portion 121 for accommodating the ball 13 at the sametime, and the sizes of the ball accommodating portions 121, the openings122 and the balls 13 could be the same with or different to each otherdepends on different designs.

Following please refer to FIG. 3, which is a cutaway view diagram whenthe fan device is installed in the electronic device of the presentinvention.

The fan device 10 is installed in the casing 2 of the electronic device1, and the electronic device 1 could be a thin laptop, but the presentinvention is not limited within that. The casing 2 has a board 2 a (forexample, the top surface of the casing 2 in the figure) located abovethe fan device 10 with a certain distance, and a gap H is between theball 13 of the fan device 10 and the board 2 a when the board 2 a is inthe first state (i.e. normal state). The size of the gap H could be setaccording to the deformation data of the board 2 a when applying apressure thereon, the present invention does not limit the width of thegap H.

At last, please refer to FIG. 4, which is cutaway view diagram. when thefan device installed in the electronic device is pressed of the presentinvention.

When the board 2 a of the casing 2 is applied force and enters in thesecond state, the board 2 a would generate deformation due to itsmaterial characteristics, and thus the board 2 a would be bent so theball 13 is touched by the board 2 a (the gap H is zero). If the shaft 12still rotates at this time, because the ball 13 is not fixed on theshaft 12 and could rotate freely, even the board 2 a touches the ball 13located at one end of the shaft 12, the ball 13 could roll freelybetween the board 2 a and the shaft 12 so as to lower the friction forcebetween the board 2 a and the shaft 12 and thus avoid the disturbingphenomenon. Therefore, when an external force is applied to the board 2a, only the rolling of the ball 13 would be effected, but the shaft 12could keep rotating. In addition, the ball accommodating portion 121could be filled with a lubricating oil, so as to change a slippingfriction having higher friction force into a rolling friction havingsmaller friction force, and further lower the noise.

Besides, there are different structure types of shaft arranging indifferent fan devices, such as being exposed to outside from the fandevice or being sealed in the fan device. Therefore, the casing 2 of theembodiments according to the present invention aforementioned isexplained by using the casing of the electronic device 1 as an example(i.e., one end of the shaft is exposed to outside from the fan device).However, in another embodiment, the casing 2 could be the casing of thefan device 10 (i.e., the end of the shaft 12 is sealed inside the fandevice). In the later situation, when the casing of the electronicdevice is applied force so the fan device is pressured, the ball of thepresent invention could work as aforementioned.

By the fan device 10 having the ball 13 in accordance with the presentinvention, it could lower the external force disturbing to the fandevice 10, and thus the fan device 10 could keep working stably.

In summary, regardless of the purposes, means and effectiveness, thisinvention has characteristics that are quite different from thecharacteristics of known technology. However, it is noted that many ofthe above-mentioned embodiments are only for illustrative purposes; theclaims of this invention should depend on the claims rather than belimited to the embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fan device, disposed in a casing of anelectronic device and adjacent to a board of the casing, wherein theboard has a first state indicating not being applied force and a secondstate indicating being applied forced, the fan device comprising: aplurality of fan blades; a shaft, connected to the plurality of fanblades and allowing the plurality of fan blades rotating with the shaft,wherein at least one end of the shaft has a ball accommodating portionand an opening communicating with the ball accommodating portion; and aball, disposed in the ball accommodating portion and limited by theopening for not separating from the ball accommodating portion; whereinwhen the board is in the first state, a gap is between the ball and theboard; when the board is in the second state, the board and the balltouch each other.
 2. The fan device as claimed in claim 1, wherein theshaft has two ends, and the ball accommodating portion and the openingare only disposed on one end which is near the board.
 3. The fan deviceas claimed in claim 1, wherein a diameter of the opening is smaller thana diameter of the ball.
 4. The fan device as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe ball accommodating portion is filled with a lubricating oil.
 5. Afan device, comprising: a casing, having a board, and the board having afirst state indicating not being applied force and a second stateindicating being applied forced; a plurality of fan blades; a shaft,connected to the plurality of fan blades and allowing the plurality offan blades rotating with the shaft, wherein at least one end of theshaft has a ball accommodating portion and an opening communicating withthe ball accommodating portion; and a ball, disposed in the ballaccommodating portion and limited by the opening for not separating fromthe ball accommodating portion; wherein when the board is in the firststate, a gap is between the ball and the board; when the board is in thesecond state, the board and the ball touch each other.
 6. The fan deviceas claimed in claim 5, wherein the shaft has two ends, and the ballaccommodating portion and the opening are only disposed on one end whichis near the board.
 7. The fan device as claimed in claim 5, wherein adiameter of the opening is smaller than a diameter of the ball.
 8. Thefan device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the ball accommodating portionis filled with a lubricating oil.
 9. An electronic device, comprising: acasing, having a board, and the board having a first state indicatingnot being applied force and a second state indicating being appliedforced; a fan device, disposed in the casing and near the board of thecasing, the fan device comprising: a plurality of fan blades; a shaft,connected to the plurality of fan blades and allowing the plurality offan blades rotating with the shaft, wherein at least one end of theshaft has a ball accommodating portion and an opening communicating withthe ball accommodating portion; and a ball, disposed in the ballaccommodating portion and limited by the opening for not separating fromthe ball accommodating portion; wherein when the board is in the firststate, a gap is between the ball and the board; when the board is in thesecond state, the board and the ball touch each other.
 10. Theelectronic device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the shaft has two ends,and the ball accommodating portion and the opening are only disposed onone end which is near the board.
 11. The electronic device as claimed inclaim 9, wherein the diameter of the opening is smaller than thediameter of the ball.
 12. The electronic device as claimed in claim 9,wherein the ball accommodating portion is filled with a lubricating oil.